The Infinite Black
by Carnival-Flux
Summary: Swan Queen Sci-fi AU. Emma Swan aka The White Knight, is the best damn bounty hunter this side of the galaxy. Her life gets turned upside down when her son comes back into her life and she's 'forced' to put down roots on a backwater colony planet.
1. You're My Son?

**Disclaimer: I don't own Emma or any other characters from OUAT. I do own any of the random nobody characters that appear for one chapter and are never heard from again. Like Brutus. **

Brutus Clementine was a man of many talents. He could look at an inertial dampening set and tell you just how many G's it had managed to suppress in its lifetime. His eyes, in two seconds flat, could tell whether he was looking at W-24 Malkland style compression coil or a Nih-Stens 34 coil (for which there were very minute differences). He could also discern how long a spacefarer had been sailing the infinite black, just by looking them in the eyes (he says that the babes still have that sparkle of hope in 'em).

What he failed to see, however, was an angry blonde woman marching towards him. In fact, it was only the whine of her pistol, readying itself to fire a concussive blast that gave him any indication that she was there.

"Ems, babe, how you doin'?"

"I told you that the last time you called me 'Ems', I'd relieve you of a few cherished body parts. However, seeing as that'd take time to patch up and I'm in a rush, I'll give you the next twenty seconds to tell me where the hell my couplings are?"

"Em-ma, you know that the G4s are getting harder and harder to find these days. Maybe if'n you were to upgrade from that ugly-ass Beetle-flyer you'd have a better time finding parts when shit goes sideways."

Emma took a step back and lowered her pistol, rolling her eyes at the man. He pulled a grimy handkerchief and wiped away the sweat from his hairless head, smearing more grease and who knows what else onto it. The blonde held back a grimace and holstered her weapon.

"I'm going to pretend that you _didn't_ just insult my baby and ask you again, when the hell are those couplings supposed to be in? The longer I'm stuck on this rock, the longer I go without work."

"Listen, honey, I dunno. It may be days, it may be weeks. There's no tellin'. My supplier…well…hasn't come across anythin'." Brutus trailed off, rubbing his scraggly beard and tried to appear deep in thought. Something that Emma had seen many times when dealing with this specific dirt-bag, and nothing good ever came of it.

"Well…there are the VL3 couplings. They ain't exactly what you're lookin' for. They might-"

"I don't care, Brutus, just charge me, deliver them, and install them. I need to get out of here."

And with that, Emma Swan marched away, cursing enough to make even the most seasoned spacefarer blush.

"I still think you should upgrade from that Beetle-flyer! What type of White Knight rides a Beetle?!" He shouted after her. His only reply was for Emma to raise her arm and flip him off as she walked away.

The vendors around her changed from ship needs to more creature comforts as she walked deeper into the city, towards more permanent housing and businesses. She let a weary smile come to her face as she saw a familiar sheet metal sign that pointed to the entrance of her favorite bar, at least on this world.

"Welcome to Aztruea, finest eating establishment this side of the Poahtom Nexus, please seat yourself," came the automated greeting as she entered through the tinted glass door. A weasel-faced man scrubbing a glass nodded to her as she sat down at her usual booth, facing the door.

"The usual, Knight?" Emma nodded in affirmation, not even looking up at him. She heard a cacophony of noises from the bar as the man fixed her drink. The bartender brought it over to her and shuffled away as she grumbled her gratitude.

"Happy birthday." She whispered, and downed her drink in a few gulps. Grimacing as the burning liquid made its way down her throat. The door opened and the greeting sounded out once more, causing Emma to flit her eyes over.

'The hell? What's a kid doing here?'

A young boy stood in the door way of the seedy bar. His eyes caught Emma's and his face lit up immediately causing the bounty hunter's eyes to narrow in a glare. He waltzed right up to her and sat in the seat across from her, smiling like they were old friends.

"Hi. I'm Henry!" Emma threw a glance to the bartender, gauging his reaction just in case this was some kind of set up but he seemed as surprised as she was.

"Hey, kid. Shouldn't you be with your parents? They're probably worried sick." Emma gave the kid a quick once over, he seemed fairly well dressed and clean, an uncommon sight on this planet no matter where you went.

"I'm with my mom. I'll be fine. Can I have some juice?" The bartender snickered at his request causing Henry to give him a look of disapproval that Emma had seen many times directed towards her growing up in various foster homes across the galaxy.

"Kid, go back to your mom." She stood and turned to the bartender, still scrubbing his glass, and pulled out the correct change to pay for her drink.

"You're the White Knight, right?" Henry rushed forward to block Emma's way. The blonde woman gently pushed him out of the way and continued on her way out the door.

"You're Emma Swan!" Emma looked at the boy, confused, but continued on her way, ignoring his cries of telling her to wait up. She pushed through the crowds, throwing a few elbows towards anyone who got too close. She turned to see if the kid was still following her. The bounty hunter didn't see a short mop of brown hair struggling through the crowd, so she assumed she lost him. She felt a small pang of guilt, but if the kid was able to find his way to a shady bar in the middle of one of the seediest cities in the galaxy, she was sure he'd be fine. It's how she had lived her life once she was old enough to know how to hold a gun and she turned out all right. Mostly.

She returned to the docking station wanting nothing more than to lie down in her bed and wait for her couplings to be delivered and installed. She let out a groan of discontent as she saw that her plans weren't meant to be.

"Brutus! Why the hell are you poking around my ship!?" She growled, gun at the ready.

"Whoa, Emma! I'm installing your couplings." He dismissed the bounty hunter with a wave of his dirty handkerchief.

"You mean you had these couplings just lying around and you made me wait for the G4s? I am going to kick your ass, Brutus."

"Emma, darlin', I didn't suggest these couplings befo-…is that a kid?" Emma twirled behind her to see the kid from before standing behind her, staring impassively at the two adults.

"Harold? How the hel-heck did you find me?"

"Henry. And I followed you. Duh." A goofy smile spread across his face as if finding Emma was the easiest thing to do.

"They're all installed, Emma." And with that, Brutus packed up his tools and left the two alone.

"Kid, what are you doing here? I told you to go back to your parents." Emma opened the small cargo door of her ship and walked in, breathing in the familiar, and mostly unpleasant, smell of the cargo bay/prison block.

"I went back to my mom."

"Where is she? She'll be pissed that you left her again."

"You're my mom." Emma twirled to face the kid, her face contorted in a look of confusion.

"I don't have a son." Henry rolled his eyes and plopped down on one of the cargo crates.

"Ten years ago you gave up your son for adoption. I'm that baby. Do you have any juice?" Emma closed the cargo bay doors, her brain working in overdrive as she tried to process this information. Maybe some juice would be good, with copious amounts of alcohol in it. Her head started reeling from the drink earlier and the sudden reappearance of her son…maybe just the juice.


	2. Blast Off to Storybrooke

**Disclaimer: I don't own OUAT or any of its characters. **

"Okay…so, let me get this straight. You're my son who I gave up for adoption ten years ago?" Henry nodded, unable to speak through a mouthful of apple juice. He made a face as he swallowed, smacking his lips.

"This juice tastes weird. Are you sure this is apple juice?" Emma stared blankly at the ten year old, unsure of the problem.

"Yeah. I'm sure, kid."

"It doesn't taste fresh. When did you make it?" The bounty hunter's forehead scrunched up, suddenly confused.

"It's not…I didn't. Kid, that's synthetic apple juice. No one can afford real apples these days." It was Henry's turn to look confused as he placed the cup on the table in front of him.

"My mom uses real apples. She grows them."

"So you do have a family?" Henry looked down angrily, a pout starting to form across his face.

'Wow. I recognize that look. Considering I see it in the mirror almost daily.' The blonde shook her head before kneeling down to face Henry.

"Kid…"

"Henry. My name is Henry."

"Henry…the look on your face tells me you have a family. I need to take you back to them." Henry's eyes quickly flew to the bounty hunter's face, his expression full of fear and surprise.

"No! You can't take me back. My mom is evil!" He cried out, Emma reeled back in surprise, definitely not expecting a kid to start spouting off about how his mom was evil.

"Okay…tell me exactly how is she evil?" Henry's eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms, thinking of ways to prove to the bounty hunter that his mom is evil.

"It's…complicated. I can't just come out and tell you a few reasons why she's evil. I just know it." Emma resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the kid. She knew from growing that even the best parents in the foster system could be tough. Tough enough that a kid of only ten Universal-Galactic years would immediately jump to the conclusion that they were evil.

"Well, try to explain it." Henry took a deep breath before lifting his gaze to meet his birth mother's.

"I think she used to be a space pirate." Emma's eyebrows lifted up in surprise at this statement. Henry shuffled uncomfortably where he stood, his gaze lowering back to the floor.

"That's not it, is it?" Henry shook his head, scuffing the floor with his foot.

"I think she used to be a pirate queen." Emma stood straight up, taking in a deep breath. She bit her lip and started to walk around the small kitchen/living area of her ship. She took in the rusting metals and the peeling paint, knowing that the rest of the ship was in a similar sorry state.

'If this kid is right…and his mom is a former pirate queen, then she'd have a huge bounty on her head. Which means an extremely nice payday for me. I could finally afford to fix my baby up completely. Not just patch it with shitty parts.' Emma ran her hand over a particularly rusted area, her lip curling as her fingers came back stained red. She wiped them on her pants to clean the rust off her fingers, sighing as she inspected them for any remaining red.

'But if the kid is wrong…well…his mom grows apples so she's probably a plantation owner of some sort. She'd have power and money. And I know from experience, people with money and power don't like it when their things wander off. His parents will probably hire a really good bounty hunter to find him. And if he, or she, finds him with me…they'll kill me.' She replaced the juice in the cooling unit and inspected the other contents, making sure that nothing was going to expire too soon.

'But if I return the kid to his mom and she is wealthy…she might be quite thankful. Thankful enough to give me a reward. Every scenario seems like a good win-win, money and or life.' She turned to Henry whose eyes stared up at her, wide eyed with wonder, smiling at her. Just fucking smiling. An image from ten years ago of those same eyes staring at her with that same expression flashed in Emma's brain, a pang of guilt running her through the heart and twisting itself for good measure.

'His safe return should have been the first thing that popped in my head. Not getting paid. Shit, Emma, you're not cut out for this parent thing.' She ran her fingers through her hair and let out a long exhale of breath.

"So why exactly are you smiling like a high Jalmet user?" It was Henry's turn to look confused; Emma sighed and mumbled a 'nevermind' to the ten year old. She started walking towards the bridge, not needing to turn around to know that Henry was following her.

"Please don't take me home." He begged, wrapping his little arms around her waist. Emma let out a small 'oof' before starring down and awkwardly patting him on the back. She removed his arms from her waist and took a step back, placing her hands on his shoulders to push him away.

"How about I make you a deal. I'll take you back home and stick around for a while. Check the place out and figure out if your mom really is an evil pirate queen." The expression on Henry's face told Emma that the boy was thinking this over, trying to figure if this was going to work for him.

"But she is. I know she-"

"Kid, I can't just go in, guns blazing. If she really is a pirate queen then she'll have taken precautions. Heavy precautions. Especially against a bounty hunter like me." Henry scrunched up his face as he processed this new information.

"But, couldn't we just pretend that you're not a bounty hunter? Maybe you're a space courier or something like that? I'm sure she wouldn't figure it out!" Emma sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose before sitting in her pilot's chair. Henry did the same, placing himself in the co-pilot's chair.

"It…wouldn't work. I'm certain that either she or someone that works with her will recognize me."

"What do you mean?"

"A lot of people know who The White Knight is and what she looks like." Henry frowned at this and started to swivel his chair side to side, a habit that Emma realized he inherited from her. He stayed quiet for a few minutes; the only sounds coming from the cabin were the small squeaks of the co-pilot's chair as Henry continued to turn it.

"Emma, if a lot of people know who you are then why'd you look confused when I said your name, back when we were leaving the bar, I mean."

"I'll answer you, but only if you input your home planet's coordinates. We've got to get going soon or your mom may send someone to find you." The ten year old let out a huff of frustration and quickly punched a series of numbers and letters into the ship's computer. As the confirmation screen popped up, Emma had to hold in a curse of surprise.

'This planet is in bumfuck! There aren't any other habitable planets around it! Why the hell would a pirate queen or plantation owner or anyone for that matter set up shop on a backwater no name planet!?'

"So. You gonna tell me why you were surprised about me saying your name?"

"A lot of people know who the White Knight is. But hardly anyone knows who Emma Swan is." Henry opened his mouth but was interrupted by a man's voice coming over the com system.

"Ship class Beetle-flyer, number Q3-S75T8, this is docking control. Come in."

"Control, this is Q3-S7, what's going on?"

"Sorry about this. But we've been informed that your ship is repaired and you're ready to take off. We're gonna need you to clear out real soon unless you want us to start adding penalizing fees on your account."

"Preparing for takeoff now." Emma buckled Henry in and then did the same for herself. She then quickly turned all the proper knobs and flipped the appropriate switches to ready her ship for takeoff, the console of her ship lighting up and the sound of the engine roaring to life filled in the cabin.

"Ready for takeoff."

"You're clear to go, Q3-S7." And with that she pulled back on the yoke and sped off, out of the atmosphere and into space.

**Please review, it strokes my ego and makes me happy on the inside! I also apologize for the lateish update. I've been mostly writing background information and didn't really have time to write this chapter. And also, an apology for how nothing really happens this chapter! I need to establish my universe or some stuff might be a little confusing later on! **


	3. Awkward Introductions

**Disclaimer: I, as usual, do not own OUAT or any of its characters. **

Emma let out a huff of air as she looked over at Henry. He'd fallen asleep well into the journey, seeing as there had been nothing else to do. Emma had refused to answer any more of Henry's questions, especially when he asked about his father. The White Knight had only given him an angry glare and snarled, "Don't ask about him again." She, of course, felt a pang of regret after seeing a look of hurt wash over the boy's face and apologized to him.

"Henry. I'm sorry. Some things need to be left in the past, especially things from my past."

This answer seemed to placate the kid for the moment. After that, an awkward silence had fallen upon the bridge. Emma avoided asking him questions, not wanting to bring up any regrets or anything of the sort for giving him up all those years ago. Even if it was to a Pirate Queen. Soon, soft snores floated from the co-pilot's chair signaling to the blonde that Henry had fallen asleep. Her gaze shifted from the outer-black to the kid, he lay hunched in the chair. His arms clutched at his own body, desperately trying to seek some form of comfort. The bounty hunter let a smile come to her face, removed her old leather jacket, and draped it on his small frame. She truly did regret yelling at the kid earlier…but Henry's father was an extremely touchy subject to her.

She sighed as her mind moved to Henry's father. To her past. She hadn't had these sort of thoughts in a long time, she realized. She hadn't thought back to the time before she had become a bounty hunter, hunting the worst pirates and criminals in the galaxy. That was before she had become known as "The White Knight" back during "The Corpse War", as regular folk had taken to calling it. Or, as Emma had known it, "The Private Corporation Colony Revolts".

"Nearing planet. Prepare for atmo entry." The voice of the ship's computer shook Emma out of her musings. The bounty hunter began the atmosphere entry protocol.

"Are we there yet?" Henry asked, stretching as he awoke from his nap.

"Yeah. Just entering atmo now, we'll—." Emma trailed off as a red light started blinking on the console. She furrowed her brow as she tried to remember which system this light corresponded with. The ship gave a mighty lurch as it descended into the atmosphere. Emma quickly grabbed the yolk and yanked up in order to control the descent. Her Beetle-Flyer started shaking violently causing Emma to frown. It never shook that terribly before. Henry out a whimper of fear as her ship groaned and shook with even more fervor.

Emma gave Henry a reassuring smile even though she was quite worried. Ol' Faithful, as she called it, had never acted this roughly before. Her heart beat frantically as it gave another violent lurch. Then, silence. The ship had stopped groaning and shaking.

"Well…that was rough." Henry stated.

"Eh, it happens." The bounty hunter replied, more to reassure herself than him. It wasn't long until they were within communication range.

"This is Beetle-flyer, number Q3-S75T8, requesting permission to dock." Silence was her only reply.

"This is Beetle-Flyer, number Q3-S75T8, I am requesting permission to dock." Again, silence answered her.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Emma frowned as, once more, silence called back to her.

"Leroy!" Henry suddenly shouted. A surprised "Shit!" answered him.

"Really, kid? Couldn't have done that before?" Henry gave the blonde a cheeky smile.

"Who the hell are you and what do you want?" Emma's eyes widened in surprise. Even on the most remote, backwater planets, the communication towers followed at least some sort of formal protocol.

"This is Beetle-flyer, num—"

"Yeah, I got your damn ship number. Who the hell are _you_ and what do _you _want?" Emma let out an annoyed huff and leaned back in her chair. If this was the kind of welcome wagon she got from the communication tower, only the Corpse-colonies knew what type of reception she'd get in town.

"Hey, sister, do you have rocks for brains or are you just _that_ stunned by my charm and wit?"

"My name is Emma Swan and I have a kid—"

"Whoa, this is no place for a kid, sister. If you're looking to settle down then I suggest you look elsewhere." Emma resisted the urge to punch something. Letting the kid see just how short her temper could be was definitely not on her list of things to do that day. In fact, this entire venture wasn't even on her list of things to do in this lifetime. She gave up Henry for a reason, so he'd have his best chance. The life of a bounty hunter was no life for a kid. Not back _then_…and certainly not now.

"The kid already lives here." Emma stated, cutting Leroy off. There was no answer from the man on the other side of the communicae.

"What? Did I stun _you _into silence with my charm and wit?"

"Th…that's impossible. There's no way you can have anyone from here." Emma narrowed her eyes at the obvious lie. She had the proof sitting next to her.

"I just want to bring the kid back to his home. I don't want any trouble. Henry, why don't you say hello to Leroy."

"Hi, Leroy! Emma's taking me back home!" Once again, Leroy failed to answer. The bounty hunter sighed, this was proving to be quite trying.

"Look, the sooner I dock means the sooner I can get goin'." She listened as the man on the other end grumbled to himself, probably debating the pros and cons of letting her dock. Had Emma been the praying type, she'd've been praying for him to let her dock. However, Emma was not the praying type, not many were these days, so she sat silently and impatiently waited for him to let her dock.

"All right. Dock then get the hell outta here. We don't need no trouble 'round here." Emma grumbled a "finally" and began navigating down towards the ship docks. She was able to get a good look at the main settlement from sky. It was small and seemed fairly self sustainable. She narrowed her eyes at the lack of apple tree plantations. In the distance she saw what looked to be a farm, but it seemed small. It probably only grew enough food to feed the settlement. Several residential areas also seemed to maintain their own gardens from what she could see. It wasn't as bad as some of the more remote planets she'd seen. Most were dusty and only had a few ramshackle buildings. This one seemed nice enough and looked like a normal town.

She "docked" her ship, rolling her eyes as she did. Most planets, like the one she'd just come from, had a place for the ships to land and be locked in place. The most populous and richer planets even had large cranes that moved the ships to docking locations based on ship size.

This planet, however, had none of that. All she had to land on was the planet's surface. No technology. Everything on the planet seemed to indicate that it would make an extremely poor place for a Pirate Queen to hide out.

'Or it's a brilliant place. Small, out of the way. Easy to see when someone arrives and therefore easy to kill.' Emma tried not to shudder as this thought washed over her. Death was definitely not something she'd like to personally experience so soon in her life. The White Knight began landing protocols and soon landed on the planet's surface with no problems.

"Come on, Henry. Time to get you home." She stated, grabbing her red, leather jacket from him. The blonde woman patted her sidearm, just to ensure that it was there and ready to fire on anyone she deemed a threat. A few seconds ticked by as she waited for her cargo doors to open to the outside. She took the first few steps onto the planet's surface, its ground was soft and the air fresh. It was odd. Most of the planets she visited bore the stink of pollution for one reason or another. This planet was one of the few Emma had visited that didn't need any sort of pollution scrubbers to keep its air breathable.

No sooner had she taken her first lungfuls of the clean air, did a man of short stature come lumbering out of what she assumed was the communications and docking tower. It was rather sad, really, it was more of a small house with a large tower next to it than the usual towering structures that dwarfed the other buildings around it as was seen on other planets. This planet was definitely the most brilliant or idiotic hiding place for a Pirate Queen.

"I'm gonn' have to politely request that you surrender any firearms, sister." The man said, Emma identifying him immediately by his voice as Leroy. To punctuate his "polite request", the man aimed his own shotgun in the direction of the bounty hunter and the kid, causing her to frown.

"Go to the Corpse-colonies. I don't give my gun up for anyone." Emma said with a growl, her hand reaching for her gun. Henry glanced up at her confused, before turning to Leroy with a small smile.

"Leroy, she's just taking me back home. And she's my mom, she won't hurt anybody." This information visibly stunned the small man, who lowered his shotgun. Emma quickly drew her gun, its whine signaling that it was ready to fire, and aimed it at Leroy. He quickly dropped his shotgun and placed his hands up in a sign of surrender.

"Point your shotgun at my son again, and you'll find yourself missing some _very_ important body-parts." She growled, lowering her gun to aim at his crotch before quickly de-energizing the gun and holstering it. With a final glare at Leroy, she placed her hands on Henry's shoulders and steered him towards town.

"Bye, Leroy!" The kid said, turning to wave goodbye to the man.

The walk to town was rather quick and without incident. Henry spent the whole time babbling and pointing out the different buildings, telling her who owned them, and what business they did there. She found the whole thing rather boring, but found it odd when Henry said that the sheriff had died a while ago in a raid that pirates had made on the settlement. The man was supposedly the only casualty and the pirates had been run off quickly after.

The two were walking on the main street as Henry continued blathering on about the buildings and settlement.

"Okay, kid, sorry to interrupt you schooling me on the buildings of Starrybreak."

"Storybrooke."

"Whatever. How about an address?"

"Forty-four, I'm not telling you street." This time Emma stopped dead in her tracks and let out a loud growl of frustration, garnering the attention of a man who was just a little ways away. He quickly came trotting over, his dog in tow.

"Henry!? What are you doing with this woman?" He quickly asked, genuine worry coloring his features.

"I'm fine, Archie. I'm safe with her. She's my mom." If Archie was surprised, he didn't show it.

"Hey, do you know where he lives? He's not giving me any straight answers." Emma asked, one hand on her hip, close to her gun.

"Uh, yeah. Straight over on Mifflin street. The mayor's house is the largest one."

"Thanks," Was Emma's gruff reply as she steered Henry towards the aforementioned street.

"Bye, Archie!" Henry called back as he was directed towards his home. Emma removed her hands from Henry's shoulders and one of them drifted back to her gun, assuring herself that it would come out easily. She didn't understand why anyone, especially a Pirate Queen…if this woman was one, would give themselves the title of "Mayor". It reeked of days long past, back when people would actually vote for their leaders. Nowadays it was all about who was the most powerful and had the most money. They often gave themselves titles like "Lord" or "Lady" if they had a flair for the dramatic. Most simply called themselves a CEO.

Emma braced herself for anything and everything as they walked up the steps towards the large house. Two women exited the exquisite building, one rushing towards Henry, crying his name.

"Where were you!?" She cried as she embraced him. The kid ripped himself away from her grip with a loud, "Ugh!"

"I went to find my real mom!" He cried and went running inside, leaving the three women standing there.

"I'll go check on him." And with that, the other woman was gone, leaving Emma and whom she assumed was Henry's adopted mother.

"You're Henry's birth mother?" She asked. Emma looked the woman over, not exactly sure what to say. She didn't look like any of the Pirate Queens that were still at large, and was quite young, almost too young to be a Pirate Queen. _Almost_. Emma knew that anyone could be a Pirate Queen or King, no matter their appearance. She bore scars from encounters where she took lesser kings and queens for granted all because of their appearance. And the woman was certainly one of the more beautiful Pirate Queens she'd encountered. Emma fumbled with what to say to this woman, this suspected Pirate Queen, the woman who adopted her son, the woman who might be the only thing that stood between Emma and a fantastic payday. So she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"Hi, I'm Emma." The woman blinked a few times before shaking herself out of her stupor.

"I'm Regina Mills."

**Author's Note: So, sorry about the long wait between this chapter and the last! Finals, then holidays, then life, then my final semester of school started...so it's all been very hectic and I find myself without the will to write! Not to worry, though, as this semester leaves me with plenty of time/willpower to write! I hope that I haven't lost all you wonderful readers out there and hope I've gained some as well. See you guys next time! Please review!**


	4. Crash-land Into A New Life

**Disclaimer: I don't own OUAT, if I did there would be lesbians everywhere.**

The woman's name seemed familiar but Emma couldn't put her finger on why. She couldn't remember whether it was the name of any known Pirate Queen, a powerful CEO, or anything of the sort.

Regina took a deep breath to calm herself and shot Emma a smile. The bounty hunter felt off-kilter, this woman was an unknown. Emma didn't like unknowns.

"How would you like a glass of the best apple cider you've ever tasted?" Emma blinked back her surprise. This woman was proving to be less of a Pirate Queen and more of a CEO. Either way, she was dangerous, Emma could feel it. The bounty hunter would have to play her cards right if she wanted to make it out of this alive, she'd bet her ship on it.

"Got anything stronger?" She asked, giving her own smile. Regina let out a hollow laugh and led the way into her home. Not long after, the mayor was pouring their drinks when the woman from before came downstairs.

"Henry's fine. His trip tired him out." She started. The woman trailed off before she approached Regina directly and whispered something that Emma couldn't hear. The two moved apart and Regina gave the blonde a tight smile. Emma knew she was in deep shit.

"Thank you for informing me, Ruby. You may return home." Ruby nodded and made her exit, shooting Emma a sympathetic look as she left. Regina made her way to another room, closing the door when the blonde stepped in. The brunette immediately went into a spiel about being a single mom and mayor and everything was making Emma's head spin. 'What was in my drink?' She wondered. Then she looked up and the Mayor was smiling at her, and it was not a kind one either. It chilled her to the bone. She put her drink down and wiped her sweaty palms on her pants.

"So…Emma was it? I hear you told Leroy to go to a Corpse Colony?" Emma opened her mouth to defend herself but was cut-off with a wave of Regina's hand.

"No need to defend yourself Ms…I did not catch your surname." Regina looked at Emma expectantly, sipping on her own cup of cider. The blonde woman fumbled a bit, not wanting to reveal her identity this early.

"Not that it matters, Ms. Swan," Emma widened her eyes in surprise, her mouth gaping as she tried to find an answer, "Leroy informed me you were returning my son to me, giving me your full name and ship number. Had he known who you truly were, I assume he would have shot you where you stood as those are his standing orders." Regina took another sip of her cider and placed the glass on the table in front of her, smiling at the other woman as if she'd just suggested that Emma should stay for dinner.

"He has standing orders to shoot me?" Regina scoffed at this and placed her hands in her lap, taking on a regal pose.

"Of course not you in particular. Don't be silly. He has orders to shoot anyone from the military sector of the corporations. This is a free and independent colony; we don't want any interference from any Private Corporation Army." Emma was confused by this and shook her head.

"I'm not PCA."

"You were at some point; that much I know. Only a PCA soldier would dare use 'Corpse Colony' in a negative context as that." A flash of surprise flickered across Emma's face, she'd forgotten that the free and independent colonies didn't see the Corpse Colonies as the Corporate planets did and by extension, the private armies that each corporation owned. The Free Colonies thought the Corpse Colonies were an affront to everything they stood believed and stood for. The people in those colonies just wanted to make a life for themselves but they rebelled and were massacred for their defiance.

The Corporations who owned these colonies didn't see it that way. They paid for the planets and the resources on them. They hired the people to work the mines, the farms, and any other labor that was deemed necessary. These people were paid less and less while being taxed more and more. These people got sick of it so they rebelled. The Corporations didn't like this and formed their own private armies to deal with these colonies. These soldiers were well trained and well armed, a far cry from the colonies that they were hired to put down. Several colonies were able to be put down without bloodshed; however, the majority were not so lucky. The worst attacks on the colonies were massacres where all people, man, woman, and child, were killed to make a statement. Whatever colony the Corporations decided to attack with their PCA were deemed "Corpse Colonies" as this was not only a bastardization of their title as "Corp. Colonies" but corpses were all the remained of those who dared to rebel against their Corporation.

"Ah, so I am right. Tell me, which corporation did you serve? How many nursing babes did you kill? What about their mothers and fathers? How many of their lives paid for your fancy military armor and weapons?" Emma looked up, her eyes narrowing into a glare and her mouth twisting into a snarl.

"If you truly must know, I served with the EF Corporation." Regina let out another hollow laugh, downing more of her cider.

"They were one of the worst if memory serves correctly. Rivaled only by WLE. Funny how they merged a few years ago, now they own a monopoly on…well…everything. Good job on protecting EF's rights, now almost no one has them now." Regina stated, a smirk on her face.

"EF was one of the few corporations who didn't massacre entire colonies." Emma replied, her fists clenching in anger, both at the mayor and the lies that Emma was force to spout. Regina shot her a condescending smile as she leaned back in her chair and struck another regal pose. 'No one should be able to look that majestic while simply lounging.' Emma noted.

"Ah, yes. EF was one of the few who did avoid _total_ bloodshed, by no fault of their own. However, several of their child companies and subsidiaries did in fact indulge in complete massacres. By the orders of top EF officials, no doubt." Emma didn't even try to hide the look of surprise that found its way to her face. Very few people knew about or even cared to know about EF's proxy massacres. Regina was even more dangerous than Emma had previously believed.

"Yes, I admit that I killed people, but my division only attacked colonies that had already killed EF officials." This half-confession made Regina roll her eyes and gave Emma a withering stare. The blonde swallowed hard and reached for her glass, downing a good portion of the remaining cider.

"Well, Ms. Swan, not all PCAs were as noble as you were." With that, Regina stood and made her way for the door of her study, holding it open so Emma could leave. Once Emma exited that room, the brunette made her way to the front door and held that one open so the bounty hunter could take her leave.

"Ms. Swan, I do believe it is time for you to take your leave." Emma stared blankly at the brunette, walking onto the woman's front porch.

"And by leave, I don't just mean my home," Regina clarified, "I mean you are to leave my colony. You brought Henry back to me, for which I am grateful for, but there is no place for you here. Especially for a former PCA dog such as yourself." And without waiting for a reply, Regina shut the door, leaving the bounty hunter to her own thoughts. It was cold out, but it didn't do much to quell the maelstrom that was going on in her head. Emma blinked and looked around, highly confused. She was already back at her ship. Without a second thought, she opened the ship's cargo doors, closed them, and found herself in the bridge. The blonde flipped all the appropriate switches and turned all the right knobs and grabbed the yolk as her ship roared to life. With a quick yank up, she was off and flying from the planet's surface.

Her ship started groaning and shaking even worse than it did when she began to land on the planet. Emma ignored it and strove to leave the planet's atmosphere, pushing her ship to its limits. That's when she noticed that the red light was on again. And, it was in this eerie state of calm, that she remembered what that system represented. Her new couplings were failing.

As if her ship could read the blonde's mind, a loud noise of metal grinding against metal sounded out. An explosion rocked the bridge, sending Emma flying forward, banging her head against the console. Alarms were going off left and right now and the ship's computer couldn't decide what vital information Emma had to know yet as it spouted garbled warnings and instructions. Emma groaned and put a hand on her head, noting it was bleeding.

"Oh shit!" She shouted, quickly standing up from her chair. She could see that the ship was still managing to climb, but its rate of ascent was starting to level off as it lost the power to keep its engines on. The bounty hunter knew it was only a matter of time before it failed and began to fall back to the planet's surface. 'Shit, shit, shit.' Was all Emma could think as she began to hurriedly make preparations for the inevitable crash. She typed hurriedly at the ship's console, entering commands, codes, passwords, and everything else that would bring her plan to fruition. She let out a hysterical laugh as she saw that the ship didn't have the necessary power to do as she commanded. A semi-brilliant idea came to her as the ship leveled out, losing the necessary power to keep its engines on. The blonde quickly ran to the other side of the bridge to a large storage capsule. She quickly inputted the code needed to open it and stepped back as its doors swung open. With no time to lose, she turned her back to the capsule and walked backwards into it. Its systems quickly activated and little robotic arms started to do their work as they placed her PCA Assault armor upon her body. The pod finished placing her white armor onto her body, and not a moment too soon.

The ship began to lose altitude, slowly, but it was only a matter of time before the engines lost power completely. Emma quickly ran back to the ship's console and re-entered all the previous commands and codes, this time adding a few to completely shut off the essential systems. Systems such as the life support, internal inertial dampeners, and everything else that was sucking power she so desperately needed for the external inertial dampening field. With that done, Emma ran to the small medical bay and hopped in one of the life pods, one of the most well protected areas on the ship. She activated the program from her suit's link with the ship, seconds later everything went black save for the lights on her suit. The ship began to shake again, this time from falling towards the planet's surface. She hoped, prayed, and made promises to any deity that would listen so that she might survive this crash and live again another day. The entire pod shook and then there was nothing.

**Author's note: In case anyone was wondering, I've sort of envisioned the PCA armor as being like the Mass Effect universe type armor, but with the HALO universe's helmets.**

**So, with the fact I don't have to take notes in my MWF classes, but still have to attend them, I've taken to writing fanfic during class. The first page was pretty much handwritten during my American Government class. Oh lawd, what this fandom has done to me.**


	5. Putting Down Roots

**Disclaimer: Same as before, I still don't own OUAT.**

The first problem Emma noticed was how damn bright it was. She opened her eyes, squinting against the sunlight that was streaming through a small window. She attempted to sit up and that's when she noticed her second problem. Her entire body hurt. She felt like she was just one giant bruise, and with a quick glance at her arms, the bounty hunter saw that this wasn't far from the truth.

Emma's arms were discolored to a yellow with seemingly random splotches of green and purple. She lifted her shirt to examine her torso and saw it wasn't much better either. With every movement she made, Emma could tell that the rest of her body was in a similar sorry state, mottled with bruises of varying degrees in severity. At least nothing was broken.

The blonde looked around the room she was in, sighing as she realized that she'd managed to land herself in a jail cell.

"Oh, how fan-fucking-tastic!" She growled, holding back the urge to punch the nearest wall. The voice of one of her foster mothers, a woman named Nan, floated from her memories, 'Violence never solved anything,' she'd often tell Emma. She let a smile come to her face as she remembered her younger self's reply of, 'Fuck your shit, Nan.' That was right before she left to join the EF Corporation's PCA at the age of sixteen. A year after that, she officially joined her squad. And a year after that came the Mafalon Colony Incident. Afterwards, she'd been given the title of "The White Knight" and had been allowed to keep her PCA armor as a reminder of her "great sacrifice and outstanding service".

It was all bureaucracy bullshit. EF had fucked up, so they blamed those who were dead. They heralded Emma as a hero when she had disobeyed direct orders. They "let" Emma keep her armor as a "gift" when in reality they were phasing out her armor's model and planned to issue their PCA new sets.

Then Emma had Henry. She had chosen her new career before she knew she was pregnant with her son. 'Regina's son.' She corrected herself. Empty colonies and abandoned planets had become havens for space-pirates and other criminal scumbags across the galaxy. There was a high demand for those with the ability to capture and claim a reward on these criminals. Emma had the training to bring down these criminals, and with the EF Corporation's "gift", she had the means.

"Speaking of, where is my armor?" She mumbled to herself. Her gaze shifted to outside her cell, searching for a hint of white. The woman from the other night came waltzing in the room, her eyes widening in surprise when she saw Emma was up and walking.

"So you decided to rejoin the land of the living." She teased, a warm smile on her face. Emma decided that she liked this woman, Ruby, she reminded herself as her name popped into her head.

"I am notoriously hard to kill. Just ask any pirate or criminal I've ever taken in." She replied with a smirk. Ruby giggled and meandered to one of the desks. She sat upon its surface, facing Emma's cell.

"So, what exactly happened to me? I vaguely remember the crash, but what happened after?" Emma asked, placing her chin on the cell bars.

"Shouldn't _I_ be asking the questions? I mean, I am the part-time deputy after all." The brunette replied good-naturedly, causing Emma to laugh.

"True, but I still have to know. And what happened to my armor? My ship? What's with the bars? Aren't I the victim here?" Ruby's face turned serious, causing Emma's heart to drop at the prospect of whatever bad news the deputy was going to drop on her.

"Your armor is fine, mostly. It shouldn't be hard to repair. It took the brunt of the damage to your body. You'd be dead without it. Your ship—" Ruby trailed off, taking interest in her feet and the floor.

Emma waited with bated breath, hoping for some good news against all odds.

"Your ship is…salvageable. Barely. It'd cost more in parts and labor to fix it then to buy an entirely new ship of the same model and year." Emma sat on the edge of her cell's bed, her heart in her throat.

"Whatever it takes, I'll fix it.' She stated, throwing a look of determination to the brunette. Ruby's eye widened in surprise and she smiled again.

"As for what happened, you crashed. Leroy called it in and we worked with a few of our emergency crews to pull you out. We got you out of your armor and Dr. Whale checked you over. When he decided that you were fine, besides being a walking bruise, Regina ordered me to lock you up." At that, the bounty hunter clenched her fists in anger and let a growl of frustration past her lips.

"Yeah…and they were pretty bullshit charges." Ruby added. Emma let out another noise of discontent and flopped back on the bed, immediately regretting that decision as her body screamed in protest. The blonde heard the clicking of heels and looked up, hoping it was the mayor so she could say some very choice words to her. However, it was an entirely different woman she saw walking into the station. Roby's face lit up with large smile when she saw the shorter woman and pulled her into a hug.

"Belle! What are you doing here?"

"I brought you lunch. I knew you'd probably have skipped it." Belle held up a paper bag, grease staining it in various places.

"Aww. Belle, thank you." Ruby pulled her into another hug before plucking the bag from Belle's grip and began to pull out her food. Emma's stomach growled and reminded her that she hadn't eaten in a long while. Belle gave her a smile and reached into the bag and pulled out a small package wrapped in more paper. She walked over to the cell and reached through the bars to hand it to Emma. The bounty hunter looked from the woman and back to the package in hand with a questioning look.

"I had a feeling that you haven't eaten in a while. So I brought you a sandwich from Granny's." Belle explained, a warm smile on her face. Emma gingerly stood up and took the sandwich from the shorter woman.

"Uh…thanks." Emma opened the small package and pulled out what seemed to be a turkey sandwich. She took a tentative bite and was surprised to taste fresh vegetables and meat. Ruby looked over at Emma and gave her a smile,

"Granny's makes the best food this side of the galaxy." The brunette said. Belle rolled her eyes and pushed the deputy's shoulder.

"You're not biased in any way." She joked. Ruby laughed and took another large bite of her sandwich. Emma gave the duo a look of confusion.

"My grandmother is the owner and head-chef of Granny's, hence the name. I usually work there, but Regina calls on me to be the deputy when our settlement needs law enforcement ever since the old sheriff died." Emma nodded in understanding and took another bite of her sandwich.

"What about you, Belle? What do you do?" The bounty hunter asked, her mouth full of sandwich. The brunette giggled and stole a fry from Ruby, earning a mock glare from the deputy.

"I'm the local librarian."

"You guys still need a librarian?"

"Regina doesn't want us to go digital. She says we don't have the money for it but—" The librarian trailed off, making a questioning hum.

"But what?"

"Well, just that there's money for other things. Not that I mind, if we went digital then I'd be out of a job." Emma shoved the rest of her sandwich into her mouth and swallowed it, her stomach settled now it had food in there.

'Why don't you want to go digital, Madam Mayor?' Emma frowned as she processed this fact. All information was digital in this day and age. Books were largely thought to be obsolete, so much in fact, that they were often seen as a luxury item, only reserved for the most elite. Books would not be out of place if Regina was a CEO; however, CEOs also were extremely digitally inclined. Their personal library might have had several books but they would also have digital versions as well. Not to mention that Belle worked at a _public_ library. No self-respecting CEO would even think about letting the masses touch their precious books.

'But a Pirate Queen would definitely have reason to avoid going digital. Civilians have no idea just how much of their privacy is impeded upon by corporations. It wouldn't be hard for a corporation to pull someone's voice or face while they used their technology. Regina probably fights her hardest to keep modern tech out of her settlement.'

"All right, Ruby, I gotta head back to work. I'll see you tonight!" Belle's promise shook Emma out of her musings and brought her back to reality. The two women stood and they embraced once more. Emma noted that the hug lasted a bit longer than an ordinary friendly hug. The two pulled away and the blonde smiled when she saw both were blushing. Belle mumbled her good-byes to both Ruby and Emma, and she quickly exited the station.

"So…you and Belle seem pretty close." Emma deadpanned. Ruby gave the bounty hunter a terrified look but quickly recovered with a smile.

"We're really good friends. I've known her all my life, really."

"That's it? Just friends?"

"Yeah. What else would we be?"

"I don't know…lov—" Emma was cut off as Regina swept into the room, her eyes narrowing into a glare when she saw the bounty hunter.

"You!" She spat the word out, as if it was a bitter poison. Emma felt a rush of anger and quickly rushed to the cell bars, grabbing them tightly.

"Yeah. It's me. What the hell—"

"You don't get to speak. Where is my son?" The mayor growled. The blonde clenched the bars, her temper flaring.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She replied. Regina quickly walked to the bars and into Emma's personal space.

"My son. He's missing. Again. And I'm sure you had something to do with it." She ground out.

"In case you haven't fucking noticed yet, Madam Mayor, I've been in a jail cell since my crash, no thanks to you."

"Mayor Mills, I've been with her all night. She hasn't left her cell. I swear it." Ruby stated, stopping the two's argument. Regina stepped back, her face taking on an impassive look.

"Fine. She might not have anything to do with Henry's disappearance personally, but she might have allies who aided in the abduction of my son." Emma dramatically rolled her eyes and made a loud growl of discontent.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me. I fly solo."

"I'm sure your old PCA buddies escorted you here and this is some sort of scheme to steal my son from me."

"I gave Henry up ten years ago, wh—"

"Exactly, and now you want him back and—"

"And I crashed my ship and endangered my life to do so? Yeah, I'm a criminal master mind."

"Madam Mayor! Emma!" Both women turned their heads toward the deputy, both seeming ready to pounce at the slightest provocation.

"The longer you two argue means more time for something bad to happen to Henry." This statement seemed to visibly clam both women. Emma stopped clutching at the bars and Regina's posture wasn't nearly as rigid as before.

"Ms. Lucas is right. We should focus on finding Henry." The mayor's voice held no malice as she broke the silence.

"Well, you're in luck. Finding people happens to be something I'm good at. I am a renowned bounty hunter after all." Regina clenched her jaw and gave the deputy a tight smile.

"Please release Ms. Swan. She will come with me to Henry's school," She turned to face Emma as Ruby did as asked, "It's where he was seen last."

Emma limped out of the cell, her entire body screaming in protest. She was thankful for Regina's restraint in choosing not to comment on her physical state.

"Ms. Lucas, please head to my home in case Henry decides to return home." Ruby nodded in affirmation and the Mayor returned to leave the station, Emma struggling to follow.

The two arrived at the school, although it had taken longer than Regina would have liked. Emma knew this because the brunette made it a point to state this fact every few minutes. Had Henry's safety not been at stake, Emma would have purposefully slowed down even more, just to piss the woman off. They walked into the classroom as Henry's class mates walked out, leaving a short-haired brunette as the room's only occupant.

The woman looked up at the sound of Regina's heels clicking on the floor, her eyes widening when she saw the two.

"Regina!" She all but shouted. Within seconds, she was pulling the mayor into a hug. To say that Emma was confused would be an understatement; even more so when Regina stiffly returned the embrace.

"Regina, I'm so sorry. I know I was supposed to be watching Henry, but one of the other children got sick and I—" She was cut off with a wave of Regina's hand and a tight smile.

"Mary-Margaret, it's fine. What's important now is finding my son." Mary-Margaret turned to Emma and gave her an once-over.

"Who are you?"

"I'm—" Emma struggled to find the right words.

"She's Emma Swan, a bounty hunter who's helping me find Henry."

"You're _the _Emma Swan?" The teacher squeaked out. Regina was visibly stunned, and briefly appeared vulnerable, soft, and approachable. Emma decided that she liked this side of the Mayor. It was gone as quickly as it arrived, however.

"How do you know her?" Regina asked, her eyes harder than steel.

"Gina, she's the White Knight! The same woman who caused the Mafalon Colony Incident. The very same PCA soldier who essentially stopped the colony attacks and brought about a tentative peace." Regina, once again, was stunned, vulnerable, soft.

'And absolutely beautiful.' Emma found herself thinking. She shook her head to clear it of such thoughts. 'Now is _really _not the time, Swan!'

"I…well, yes. I mean—" Regina trailed off. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath to clam herself, "I will continue search on my own. Ms. Swan is slowing me down. You can continue searching on your own." With that, the mayor quickly walked out of the classroom, accidentally bumping into a desk covered in books, knocking them down. Her eyes flitted from Mary-Margaret and then to Emma, her face reddening with a blush. With a mumbled apology, she finally made her exit.

"That was kind of weird." Emma stated, breaking the silence. Mary-Margaret let out a laugh and went to pick up the books Regina had knocked over.

"You and Regina seem close." The blonde said as she helped the teacher.

"We grew up together."

"What?"

"Yeah. She came here when she was thirteen…I believe I was seven galactic years old at the time."

"She spent her childhood here?" Emma was dumbfounded, Regina was just a simple all-powerful bitch and not a Pirate Queen?

"Yeah. My father, he was the mayor before Regina, adopted her. She's kind of like a sister to me, although, she's always been a bit distant." Emma widened her eyes in surprise, finding it hard to imagine that this kind soul had been raised by the same man as Regina.

"It's hard to imagine she's spent her whole life here, basically." Emma mumbled, more to herself than Mary-Margaret.

"Well, when she got older she'd disappear for months at a time. We wouldn't even know she was gone until it was too late." The teacher replied, a wistful smile on her face. The two stood up, having picked up all the books, and placed them back on their proper desk.

"That's…weird." Emma stated, her brow furrowed.

"Yep, I thought so. It didn't stop until she was a few months shy of twenty. And then she adopted Henry not long after."

"Which was ten years ago?"

"Of course, Henry is ten." Emma narrowed her eyes, confused more than ever.

"So…what was with the flustered act when she found out who I was?" Emma asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Oh, that. Well after Regina found out the war had ended thanks to the efforts of basically one person, she had to know everything about them. Honestly, it seemed like she had a bit of a crush." Emma felt the heat rising in her cheeks and shook her head at the idea of a younger Regina having a crush on her.

"I don't think I could imagine Regina having a crush on anyone, let alone me." She said, chuckling.

"Regina…is a complicated woman." The teacher stated. Emma nodded in her head in agreement.

"Do you have any idea where Henry might be?" Emma asked, her reason for being here forced to the forefront of her mind.

"You could try his castle."

"He…has a castle?"

"It's…more like an old wooden play set. Henry spends a lot of time there."

"Why?"

"He doesn't have a lot of friends. Regina was the only concrete point of his life, but he needed a place to get away and just be him. And that changed when he found out he's adopted, he used it as a place to avoid Regina…it got worse when I gave him an old book."

"Let me guess, it's about Space pirates."

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Lucky guess."

"You might want to get going. I'm pretty sure Regina doesn't know about Henry's castle."

"Thanks. I appreciate it." Mary-Margaret gave her a smile and nodded before writing some directions down on a piece of paper.

"Here, this is where Henry's castle is." Emma nodded her thanks and walked out.

It didn't take long, even with her extremely slow walking speed, to reach Henry's castle. It wasn't exactly what Emma was expecting. She expected something that all the kids in the settlement would be vying for control and letting only a few of their friends on it. Not this ramshackle mess of a structure that was probably unsafe and falling apart. No wonder why Henry came here to be alone, no one else wanted to hang out here. She saw that Henry was sitting alone, looking out at the water. Emma walked over, squinting her eyes against the buffeting winds. The kid was wrapped up in his coat, his arms hugging a worn book to his chest.

"Hey, kid." Emma offered, taking a seat next to him, trying not to scream as the structure groaned in protest and shook a little. Henry didn't answer her so she tried again,

"Why are you out here alone?"

"You left." He whispered, hurt in his voice. Emma felt guilt rise up from the pit of her stomach.

"Yeah…I'm sorry about that."

"You promised to stay for a bit. And you tried to leave." Emma could hear the tears in his voice, she felt another stab of guilt.

I had to. Your mom—" Emma trailed off, her eyes narrowing as she had an epiphany.

'Regina asked me to leave. Why the fuck did I listen to her? I never listen when someone like her asks me to do something.' Henry's small form next to her started to shake as a few sobs racked his body.

"No one believes me anymore. They think I'm just a stupid kid. Just like you. You promised you wouldn't leave, but you did!" He cried out, tears running down his face. Emma reached out to comfort him, surprising herself when she felt her stomach twist as Henry moved to avoid her touch.

"Henry—," Emma trailed off, trying to find the words to help her save face in front of the kid, "I…was leaving…but I was coming back." Henry sniffed indignantly, wiping his nose on his sleeve.

"No you weren't." He grumbled.

"Yes I was. It was part of my plan. I was going to come back without Regina knowing." Henry looked up at her, his eyes filled with hope.

"Really?" Emma nodded in affirmation. She barely managed to stay on the structure as Henry all but tackled her with a fierce hug, laughing as he did.

"That's brilliant! Like a secret operation! It needs a codename!" Henry cried, jumping off the structure. Emma stood up as well, smiling at Henry's outburst. Emma pushed him in the direction she'd come from so that they could walk home.

"We could call it Operation Cobra!" He announced suddenly, once they were in sight of his home.

"Cobra? This has nothing to do with snakes."

"Exactly!"

"Henry!" Regina came running out of her home and embraced her son as she had the previous night. Ruby was once again hanging back as mother and son were reunited once more.

"March inside right now, Henry. You're in quite a bit of trouble." Regina told him. Henry did as she asked with no arguments. The mayor turned to Emma, her jaw set as she shot her an angry look.

"I don't want you on my settlement, Ms. Swan. I want you on the next cargo ship out of here, which should be in two weeks. I don't care where you stay or who you stay with, I just want you gone and out of our lives." She growled. Without waiting for a reply, she turned and waltzed back into her home. Ruby walked over to her and placed a tentative hand on the bounty hunter's shoulder.

"You can stay at Granny's Bed and Breakfast. My grandmother owns that too. I'll take you there." Emma nodded her thanks as the two began their trek to the inn.

"I don't have much money."

"Not really a problem. I'm sure you can do some odd-jobs around town to earn some. It seems like everyone in this town needs help. Though, I wish you could stay longer. With your experience, you'd make a great sheriff." The two arrived at Granny's and Ruby checked the blonde in and showed her to her room.

"This is where you'll be staying. Simple, but it has a bed and working bathroom," Ruby gave her a smile before continuing, "Anyways, you're probably going to want your armor back. I'll bring it by in a bit if that's okay with you."

"Yeah, sure." With that, Emma sat down on what was to be her bed for what she hoped would be the duration of her stay. She didn't have to wait long for Ruby to return, rolling her armor in on a cart, thanking her as she left.

Once Ruby left she scrambled to her armor and pulled out one of the gauntlets and her helmet.

"There's no way I left just because she asked me to," Emma muttered as she pulled on the helmet, "All right, I just need to request for the suit to show me what my last logged physical condition was before the crash. Shouldn't be too hard." And she began typing in the appropriate commands on her gauntlet's holographic interface.

"That fucking bitch!" She shouted when her helmet's HUD showed her the information she had requested.

"She fucking drugged me!" Emma slammed her helmet and gauntlet back onto the pile and began pacing around the room.

"She not only drugged me, but she used a drug that only the highest officials in a corporation have access to. How the hell did she get her bitchy hands on a supply of Cassandra's Sand? Why would she waste it on me? That stuff is only used to try and make its victims pliant to any and all suggestions by all outside sources. Very rare." Emma turned her head and saw a mirror in the corner, her disheveled appearance giving her pause. The blonde closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes and saw her determined look reflected back at her.

"You just made this personal, Regina Mills. I'm going to find out who you are if it's the last thing I do."

**Author's note: Whoa, this is SERIOUSLY the longest chapter I've ever written in the history of EVER. Like, not even my longest essays (for school) have come out to being this long. Oh, and to the guest reviewer who is concerned about me not paying attention in class, not to worry, my dear! All of my professors teach STRAIGHT from the book. I could literally not show up at lecture if I wanted to and still pass my classes (which, sadly, I can't do because they take attendance at my college).**


End file.
